“The journey to running a member-centric company on a consistently profitable basis has taken far longer than we expected,” Lampert wrote in a lengthy blog post. “Like many other brick and mortar retailers, Sears has encountered very substantial obstacles to profitability as a result of the enormous changes to the retail environment caused by the ever-increasing trend to online shopping.

"We anticipated these changes and reorganized in light of them, but have yet to achieve the results that we desire.”

Sears had previously said there was “substantial doubt” the company would be able to stay in business and sustain as online sales and chains such as Walmart continue to take over the market.

Sears stock, which once traded at more than $100 a share, is down to 40 cents a share.